An outlet for my thoughts. It was either start a blog or get a goldfish.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Dragged onto the Bandwagon

The Whole30 bandwagon, that is. If you're not aware of the Whole30 thing, congrats! Enjoy the awesome shelter of that rock you're under. If you are sick to death of the Whole30 thing, good news! By the time some fad has made it around to me, it's on it's way out. In my case, I've been seeing bits and pieces of this phenomenon around, and what I saw seemed like a pretty good idea. Eating fresh vegetables, good meat, some fruit and nuts, etc. Basically only really nutrient dense real food and nothing else. I didn't personally feel a great need to try it, because that's already sort of how I eat and my weight is not an issue for me right now, so I was happy to simply cheer others on.

Now here I am, on something like Day 4, and yesterday I was yelling at vegetables. So, yeah. I think it's going well.

(Seriously! What is with vegetables?! Whatever, they're good for you, blah, blah, blah, but they are a LOT of work to prepare, they're work to eat and they take up a LOT of space in your stomach and barely give you any calories for all that work! Y'all, I am hungry, and I don't have time to fool around with all of this nonsense, especially when I'm trying to take in enough calories to maintain my weight.* PLUS, there is the bloating associated with that much vegetable consumption. Worse yet, they kept landing on the floor as I was trying to dice- hence, the yelling. Grr!)

Ahem. Anyway, how did I get here to this place of craziness? That's a very good question, and I don't really remember exactly where I was on this a week or two ago. I only know what's happened in the last week to push me off the fence and into the middle of this with minimal preparation. I don't know if I'm really doing the Whole30, we might have to call it the Whole30ish. Lemme 'splain (for those of you that are still reading; if you're bored already, feel free to click away!)

Okay, I was thinking about it anyway. I have been noticing that my sugar and grain intake has been higher than what I like for it to be and than what is optimal for me with the inflammation and stuff. When I saw a friend mention on fb how much better she felt after doing the Whole30 (a friend who eats better than I do!), I thought that maybe I should give it a try. I decided to go ahead and buy the book, and then try to get in 30 days before Thanksgiving, but I was going to read, then buy groceries, then start.

Instead, I went for a hike and something in the air set off my allergies, and I fought asthma all weekend. (My biggest allergy symptom is that my asthma gets worse.) And all day Monday. Any little thing kept setting it off. This perfume or cologne, that 10 minute walk, ONE measly serving of Greek yogurt. My workouts were crap. By Tuesday, my immune system was in fits and suddenly ALL foods were making my mouth itch. No. Freaking. Way. I have to eat, and food is a big staple in my diet! I can deal with my asthma/allergy twins most of the time, but they can't just keep changing the rules on me and getting more sensitive to absolutely everything!

Enter the Whole30 (and some essential oils, and staying inside, and making an appointment with an acupuncturist). Now, I am definitely doing Whole30ish, because there are a couple of things that are different for me right now. One of the things that the founders are big on is don't step on the scale. They want you to be more aware of how you feel when eating better (even though for the first few days, that means feeling like crap). Weighing yourself makes it about the numbers. I still weigh myself consistently. I actually lost a little weight this week (actually a lot; 4# in 4 days; this is not a good thing, not when it's because you can't eat/aren't sure what to eat), and I really want to maintain where I was. I think it's good to have a little reserve, and knowing what my body composition is, I don't really want to lose weight. Anyway, my point is that as I figure out how to get enough fats, etc., I want to know my weight so that I can maintain it. I would also like to make sure that I don't go the other way and gain weight. So, yes, I will be weighing myself.

One of the other things is that I have made myself smoothies and will continue to do that as needed. I always have them with other food, because I don't want that sugar** hit all by itself, but the argument against them is that drinking your calories means that you are going to get more calories than your brain is aware of. To which I say, "Good! I have 4 pounds to gain."*(Again.) Other than that, I am trying to follow it pretty closely. Definitely don't want to be eating anything off the list.

I had a really low energy day Friday and then off and on Saturday. Also, some of the crabbiness and crampiness yesterday. It's frustrating to still feel hungry while your stomach feels too full of vegetables to eat. However, I did a little workout at the gym today and I felt awesome, no inhaler needed. I could smell several different perfumes and colognes today and none of them triggered the asthma. Whether that's the food or the essential oil, or what I don't know. What I do know is that I am loving all this oxygen! Also, since I'm already used to eating fairly healthy, I am LOVING some of the foods that I'm eating. They may be a pain in the butt to prepare, but they sure taste amazing.

Okay, I've gone on about all of this long enough. Anyone else either tried this or do you want to try it? What are your thoughts? I can tell you that it's enough work and the first few days are uncomfortable enough that if I wasn't so partial to breathing and eating, I may not have made it this far.

*Yes, I know I just made you hate me. I'm sorry, but that just happens to be where I am and what I need right now.
**Only the natural sugar from the fruit, of course.

9 comments:

Congrats on embarking on this journey! I did a Whole30 a couple of months ago...mainly to finally force myself to give up all dairy to see what happened. I planned it so that I was doing it at the same time our garden was producing at it's peak, so that helped with the veggies since I would be eating them anyway. I didn't have any dramatic results, so I'm back to eating normally (still gluten-free since that got rid of my asthma, and breathing is awesome) but I've noticed that the break must have healed something in my stomach, because dairy no longer gives me a stomach ache. I'm not eating ice cream every day, but it's nice to be able to indulge in a treat occasionally! Looking forward to hearing what you discover through this process. :)

Are you getting enough fats at each meal? For the first couple of weeks, I had to overload on the fats - avocados at almost every meal, plenty of coconut oil, olives, etc. After a bit, I was able to back off a bit - it was more intuitive how much I needed. In fact, I ate out last night (very rare these days), had a chicken and broccoli dish with some rice, and was STARVING just two hours later, after more than a month of being able to last from dinner time (even as early as 5 pm) all the way to the next morning. Also, they want you to eat two palm sized portions of protein at every meal, then fill the rest of your plate with veggies and add fat, and I always eat the protein and fat first, then dig into the veggies. And if you're super active (pretty sure you fit that category), you're gonna need potatoes or more carb-heavy squashes. I ate potatoes more regularly than I ever have, still managed to lose weight. Total of 5 lbs since September 16th, but I gained muscle and lost inches, so I think they're really right about not weighing - it's not going to give you the whole picture. Just don't let the scale dictate what goes in your mouth - let your body tell you! I hope this heals your allergies, too. I didn't go completely nightshade free on my whole30, which might be what I need to make a dent in my pain. I really prefer eating this way now, but yeah, sometimes I just want to not have to fix vegetables, lol.

Oh, the whole point of mentioning the chicken dish I ate last night was that it was so low in fat! And that's why I was starving after. There weren't any good options at that restaurant for add-ons that were appropriate though.

Preparing so many veggies is tough and can feel like a second job! We buy the frozen veggies a lot to save time. I definitely need to start eating more veggies again because I can tell I haven't had enough lately.

I guess I count as being under a rock; I haven't heard of the Whole 30 thing. I might be happy keeping it that way, too. Granted, I do need to focus on eating more fruits and veggies, since I've been bad about that lately, but I am so not looking to completely change how I eat.

You are brave, good work. Im a little scared to try it, mostly because im too artached to my guilty pleasures, which is one reason i should try it....lol. plus it seems like a lot of work. Interested in how it goes.

About Me

I am a cradle Catholic, but my extended family, while mostly Christian, are all over the place. That is where the name comes from. Me? I'm in my 30's, single, and spend my days working and hiking. This is my space to talk about whatever comes to mind.